Stretcher topping and take-off bar for elastic hosiery welts and the like



Y WELTS AND THE LIKE E. A. MOHR' Edwardlfl'ilohr INVENTOR BY I I ATTORNEB Patented Dec. 6, 1938 UNITED STATES Search PATENT OFFICE STRETCHER TOPPING AND TAKE-OFF BAR FOR ELASTIC HOSIERY WELTS AND THE LIKE Edward A. Mohr, Wyomissing, Pa... assignor to The Nolde and Horst Company, Reading, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 30, 1935, Serial No. 52,287

3 Claims.

My invention relates to the knitting of hosiery or the like having a part thereof, as a separately made elastic garter welt, integrally united thereto by engaging loop stitches during the usual knitting operation.

More particularly my invention relates to a novel stretcher bar adapted to removably hold the elastic welt tensioned by determined elongation and with an edge portion thereof freely positioned for direct topping engagement with the knitting needles and supported in such stretched relation during the subsequent formation of the attached knitted fabric.

I am aware that the use of elastic welts is old and that it has heretofore been interknit with a stocking; also, that by means of a usual transfer bar or ring, upon the points of vwhich the elastic welt is first impaled, it may be transferred to the knitting needles when said points are in superimposed relation.

It is the object of my present invention to avoid the need of such costly tooled and more expensively maintained transfer devices and further to eliminate the added labor cost of such intermediate welt engaging operation, by directly topping the welt upon the needles of the knitting machine by means of a simple and economically manufactured stretcher bar upon which the welt may be held in tensioned elongation for convenient topping, and further supported thereon in stretched relation to avoid strain upon the needles during subsequent knitting.

With the above stated main object in view my invention consists of a stretcher bar, the essential construction and manner of its use being more fully described in connection with the accompanying drawing, and its novel features specifically set forth in the appended claims.

Fig. 1 is a plan view indicating a preferred embodiment of my stretcher bar adapted for use with a straight bank of needles as in a fullfashioned knitting machine, the needles being indicated by the line of small circles.

Fig. 2 is a transverse cross-sectional elevation of the bar shown in Fig. 1, and its relative position to the needles and sinkers of a full-fashioned machine, shown diagrammatically, and a take-up tensioning connection indicated.

Fig. 3 shows in a perspective elevation, an embodiment of my stretcher bar adapted for a circular knitting machine.

Any suitable woven, braided, or knitted elastic may be employed with my stretcher bar, and it may of course be engaged upon the needles anywhere in its width, but there is available special elastic particularly adapted by a spaced selvage warp, or by selvage loops, for convenient topping engagement with the knitting needles. Fabric of the above nature is cut in such lengths'that when stretched on my bar will insure adequate tension for garter purposes and at the same time spacedly spread the topping portion for more convenient engagement with the needles.

Now referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, my stretcher bar 5 is shown as preferably made from a simple fiat strip of metal or other suitable material, with wide end portions 6, 6, having end serrations or impaling teeth 1, 1, and a reduced-width portion 1 intermediate said ends formed by cutting back one edge 8, the other edge 9 being shown with points or tits ID at spaced intervals therealong, and take-up attaching devices as loops H, II provided on such edge 9.

A suitable length of fabric, indicated by dotted outline A, is shown as held in stretched position on bar 5, with its out ends engaged by serrations 1, 1, its lower edge engaged by points It), and its topping edge spanned between the ends 6, 6, and in freeposition, outside the edge 8 of reduced-width portion 1, so that it may be readily topped directly upon the line of needles I2. Referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the cut back edge 8 of this embodiment is provided not only to conveniently free the welt topping edge of the elastic, but as a clearance for the reciprocated sinker l5.

After the topping of the edge on needles I2, I prefer in most cases to hold the elastic welt 'in stretched .condition to avoid the strain its retraction might put upon the needles, and to this end loops II, II are provided for connection of the usual tension strap of the knitting machine, the bar being used to draw off the knitted fabric as it is produced, and the points l0, In, it will be seen now function to distribute the pull of the take-off on the bar 5 across the widthof the welt. After the knitting has progressed suificiently, the bar 5 may be removed for repeated use, and the take-off engaged with the knitted fabric direct as heretofore.

The bar for the use above set forth, may be comparatively rigid, but when made of flexible material 5a and provided with a locking connection 20 as shown in Fig. 3, it may be bent with the stretched fabric ends engaged thereon by serrations la, la into a ring for topping on the circle of needles of a round-and-round knitting machine. And for such latter purpose the wider ends 6, 6, the points or tits l0, and the take-ofl Room engaging loops II, II, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may be omitted and the bar 5a made of the same width throughout with equal width serrated ends M as indicated in Fig. 3, with the topping-edge of the welt somewhat projected beyond said width.

My improved stretcher bar, as above described, is intended to eliminate as unnecessary the step of topping the elastic welt on the points of a transfer or welt bar, but when use of such transfer bar is found desirable, my stretcher bar will simplify and facilitate topping operation thereon.

The serrated or impaling teeth 1 at the ends of the bar may not be suitable for certain elastics, and other engaging means substituted, and the bar may be otherwise modified for specific uses within the spirit of my invention as defined in the following claims:

What I claim'is:

1. A stretcher bar for topping elastic welts and the like upon the needles of a knitting machine, consisting of a flat bar having serrated ends adapted to engage and hold the welt in longitudinally stretched position thereon, and a cutback sinker-clearing intermediate portion of said bar adapted to freely expose a topping edge portion of the stretched welt.

2. A stretcher bar for topping elastic welts'and the like upon the needles of a knitting machine, consisting of a flat bar having serrated ends, a cut-back intermediate edge, and spaced fabricengaging tits on the opposite edge, said serrated ends and edge tits being adapted to support a welt in stretched position with its topping edge positioned adjacent said cut-back bar edge.

3. A stretcher bar for topping elastic welts and the like upon the needles of a circular knitting machine, consisting of a flat flexible bar having engaging means to hold a free edge of the welt in stretched topping position thereon, and complementary means at the ends of said bar adapted to be engaged and hold said bar and its stretched welt bent to form a closed circle.

EDWARD A. MOI-IR. 

